After spending over nine months recovering from ACL surgery, Daniel Jones didn’t have the ideal comeback for the New York Giants in their season opener.
The quarterback faced boos from the crowd.
Jones, picked sixth in the 2019 draft, struggled in a 28-6 defeat to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He threw two interceptions, including a pick-6 where Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel caught a swing pass with one hand and walked into the end zone.
“Obviously not good enough. Didn’t get in the end zone, scored six points,” said Jones, who completed 22 of 42 passes for 186 yards. “Didn’t create much rhythm and flow for ourselves. I’ve got to be better, certainly got to play better, give ourselves more chances to make plays and execute more consistently.”
Despite his poor performance, Jones wasn’t the only one at fault. The new offensive line, which was supposed to protect him, allowed him to be sacked five times. The Giants had only 74 rushing yards on 21 carries, with most of the longer runs happening after the game was already decided.
Although the Giants had talked about throwing deep since training camp, they didn’t attempt a single deep pass. The longest play was a pair of 25-yard catches by first-round draft pick Malik Nabors. Out of the Giants’ 68 offensive plays, only eight gained more than 10 yards.
“It’s certainly frustrating and disappointing to get the result today that we did,” Jones said. “I think for us, we’ve got to understand this is the first week and there’s a lot of football to play, so we’ve got to clean it up.
We’ve got to make some improvements fast and a lot of football to play, so that’s what we’re going to do.”
After making the playoffs with a 9-7-1 record in Brian Daboll’s first season as head coach in 2022, the Giants let fans down last season with a 6-11 record. Fans were clearly frustrated at halftime with New York trailing 14-3 and booed the team off the field.
Their frustration continued as the Vikings scored on the opening drive of the second half and grew worse when Van Ginkel intercepted a pass intended for Wan’Dale Robinson and scored, making it 28-6.
